


Love is Love

by steviewrites



Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Art major Steve Rogers, Bisexual Steve Rogers, Gay Bucky Barnes, Homophobia, Homophobic Language, LGBTQ Themes, M/M, Pre-Serum Steve Rogers, Religious Themes, Russian lit major Bucky Barnes, Stan Lee cameo if you squint, Steve Rogers-centric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-25
Updated: 2016-05-25
Packaged: 2018-06-10 17:33:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,592
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6966553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/steviewrites/pseuds/steviewrites
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which there's a Snickers bar, flannel pajamas, and lots of hand-holding.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Love is Love

Steve Rogers was not having a good day. At all.

 

First it was his alarm clock, which had been set to ring at 8:00 sharp that morning, instead decided to ring at 9:00. That meant he’d had to grab his backpack, ID, and a protein bar and jet out of his dorm to make it to his 9:15 18th Century Art Theory class on time. He hadn’t even changed out of the flannel pants and WE NEED YOU! T-shirt he got from that one museum exhibition in Jersey. Even then, he walked in three minutes late and got a stern but surprised glare from his professor. 

 

Nat didn’t even  _ try  _ to hide her laughter. He gave her the finger before taking his place at the spot to her right.

 

Then was the dorm door. He’d gone back to Truman Hall after class to try and change quick before he had to be at the science building (which, coincidentally, was across campus) by 11:00. Steve had his ID out and ready to scan but  _ beeeeep beeeeep.  _ The light on the little black box blinked red, and Steve let out a full-body groan. He tried five more times but each with the same result, so he trekked all the way around the building to find a back entrance and eventually had to ask the maintenance guy to open a door. Even that cost him two bucks and the Snickers he had in his backpack. He raced up the four flights of stairs (because fuck you, elevators, Truman Hall doesn’t need  _ you _ ) to his dorm and went in and changed into some sweater and jeans. 

 

By the time he was halfway across campus in his expedition to get to Physics 101, it was 10:55 and the Quad was ten walking minutes from where class was. There were people bustling about in the Quad, everyone either running to make a class or walking and making conversation. Steve walked briskly through, his head up and hands jammed in his pockets.

 

That’s when the third predicament of the day popped up, and it’s where he stands now.

 

There’s always at least two or three theology majors set up in the Quad with stacks of copies of the New Testament to give out to people who look new-agey. Steve knows he looks like an art major; that’s ‘cause he is. His hair’s long in front and short and fuzz-soft on the sides, his glasses are wide and his ears are pierced. He’s a small gangly guy who does in no way radiate masculinity. And they  _ hate  _ that sort of thing.

 

Steve came out as bisexual to his mom and to Nat, Sam, and Clint a couple months ago, and is was well-received all around, thankfully. He went to Pride last summer and had a blast, but there was still that one goddamn Facebook page for this religious crusade who followed up on university kids’ involvement in Pride. It was sadistic. And Steve had gotten an earful more than once, but being raised Catholic meant he couldn’t hit someone holding the New Testament, not really, even if everything they said was pretty much contradictory to everything he knew about the book they held. So in this one instance he kept walking, thinking karma would rain fire upon them sometime in the future.

 

Speaking of fire.

 

“SINNER! Repent, or you will face Satan’s fiery wrath in HELL!”

 

_ Here we go again, fuck me.  _ Steve thinks, keeping his head up but eyes off of them. A blue book is waved in front of his face. He chances a glimpse to the person attached to the hand attached to the book, and immediately regrets his decision.

 

“You! Do you know the Bible? Do you know  _ God _ ?”

 

Steve raises an eyebrow. Never before have they struck up a conversation with him. He flicks his eyes to the clock. He’s already two minutes late. Might as well be two minutes late with an excuse.

 

“As a matter of fact, I do, and I know he doesn’t hate me.”

 

The man’s eyes widen. He looks ridiculous, like he’s staring through saucers.

 

“But God does hate sinners! He wants them to repent and join him in joyful Christian harmony.”

 

Steve looks around, the two women at the Bible station with the man busy waving their booklets in other people’s faces, and everyone else in the Quad is minding their own damn business. Steve decides he’s on his own and if he misses class, to hell with it. Pun intended.

 

“What exactly is that ‘joyful Christian harmony’? I know plenty of devout Christians who are miserable in life.”

 

“Heaven! If you live your life according to the Law -” he waves the book a bit more “- you will be saved!”

 

And because he’s a confrontational little shit (Clint’s words, not his), Steve crosses his arms. 

 

“So you’re saying that God only loves people who fit into your idea of ‘right’?”

 

“He only loves those who reject sin!”

 

“Right. Okay, so if an abusive father and husband was a devout Christian who attended Mass every Sunday and went to confession every Thursday, would he be saved? Because he repented every week for the awful things he continued to do?”

 

“If he confessed the things he did, then yes! He’d be saved because he continually saw the light of God.”

 

“You honestly think God loves people who hurt other people as long as they say sorry?”

 

“As long as they repent, yes.”

 

“And it’s easier for you to believe that than it is for you to believe he loves gay people?”

 

“Sodomy is directly condemned in the Bible, God does not approve of it and casts out those who act on homosexual urges.”

 

“Well, in that case, you must despise divorced people.”

 

“What?”

 

“Divorce. In the Bible, it claims you have the right to stone a woman who divorces or is divorced by her husband.”

 

“Yes, but… but divorce is not nearly as big a -”

 

“As big a sin as homosexuality? So the breaking of a sacred bond between two people is more acceptable to you than the creation of a loving one?”

 

Steve hadn’t noticed, but by now people had stopped to watch the argument. The two women who were giving out New Testaments with this guy he’s yelling at turn toward him now, like a flock of three birds set on getting their prey. Steve keeps his chin up and eyes determined as he feels more people observing.

 

“I - Homosexuality is -”

 

“If you say it’s a sin one more time I will fucking lose it. I bet you for every married gay or lesbian couple out there, there’s two kids being abused by straight parents and who would love nothing more than to be raised by two people who love them and each other. The fact that you’re screaming at people to repent or go to hell for  _ loving someone  _ is ridiculous. I’m done with this.”

 

Steve turns to go, but the man speaks up again.

 

“You’re fooling yourself! You’re telling yourself that this - this  _ sin  _ is okay, is acceptable, but God knows your true nature!”

 

Steve is about to open his mouth to reply with something witty, but as the words are on his tongue he feels a hand on his shoulder. He looks up to the person on his left, expecting to see Nat or Clint or Sam, but instead sees  _ him. _

 

Bucky Barnes, Russian lit. major and total dreamboat.

 

Steve falters over his words, but Barnes speaks up.

 

“Hey, man, if God can see Steve’s true nature, he can see yours too. His is nothing but brightness. Yours is too ugly to even look at.”

 

And that’s when Bucky’s hand -  _ his left hand, dear god, the famous metal left hand  _ \- slides down quickly to grasp Steve’s hand, and tugs gently. Steve follows, through the crowd and away from the guy still holding the book, into a hallway which leads to bathrooms and storage areas.

 

“Wha - What was that?”

 

It’s the first thing Steve can think to ask. He’s been crushing on this guy for  _ months  _ but has never had the courage to ask him out (“Or even talk to him, Steve.” He can hear Nat’s voice, chiding him for all the kidlike pining he’d been doing). Bucky Barnes is like,  _ fuck,  _ man. Steve had fallen hard and he’s only realizing it now.

 

“That, my friend, was a valiant effort on your part to shut homophobic assholes up. I stood there for a good couple of minutes admiring you up there. But honestly, you of all people don’t deserve what that guy was giving ‘ya.”

 

“C’mon, I had ‘im on the ropes.”

 

Bucky smiles at him, shaking his head.

 

“I know you did, pal, but you ‘n I were gonna be even later to Physics if you kept that up any longer. Let’s go.”

 

Bucky throws his arm over Steve’s shoulders and starts walking to the science building. Maybe he doesn’t notice, but Steve leans into his embrace little by little with every step they take.

 

When they get to Dr. Banner’s room, they explain their tardiness and he waves them off. A successful avoidance of consequence, in Bucky’s hushed words.

 

The next month, Bucky and Steve have set up a Pride booth across the way from the Bible-thumpers and sell rainbow pins for a dollar each, the money going towards homeless LGBT+ youth in the area. Steve grips his boyfriend’s hand as often as they’re together.

  
Which is pretty damn often.


End file.
